Gertrude, Fionn and Erik were all bluster

Since the Met Office introduced its system of naming storms at the beginning of the autumn season in 2015 the effects felt in the capital have been fairly limited.

Introduced partly in response to the devastation caused by the St Jude Storm in October 2013 every wind storm since has failed to live up to the hype, at least at a local scale.

This tree at the side of the road in Woodford Green was a victim of the St Jude Storm in 2013

Of course many storms have caused major disruption elsewhere, not least Storm Desmond, floods from which devastated Glenridding in the Lake District.

But closer to home many of these storms have been marked simply by a higher than average ‘wind run’, the number of revolutions of this weather station’s anemometer.

The windiest days in this locality coincided with Storms Gertrude, Fionn and Erik but these were minnows compared with St Jude and the most recent devastating storm in living memory, the Great Storm of 1987.

The graphs below also highlight the ongoing problem of naming storms in that some of the windiest days in this area occurred when there was no named storm.

The windiest day in the dataset was June 6th 2017 when a low pressure system saw Force 9 winds recorded in the Channel. Locally the day was very blustery and trees that were in full leaf were blown down.

Sunsets

A stunning example of sunlight illuminating the underside of cloud at sunset was seen mid-month

Sunset on Wanstead Flats

It was a month with some amazing sunsets. This one, on April 30th, happened just as the sky cleared before dusk

I took this yesterday evening. Windless, still and humid at ground level it was fascinating to look skyward and see the multi-level cloud continue to build into strange shapes, illuminated from below by the setting sun. A wonderful weekend for cloudspotting.

Sunset Southwark Bridge

With the sun lower in the sky at this time of year there’s often a great opportunity for a decent sunset

sunset overlooking Wanstead Flats 2nd August

Sunset on 31st looking across Wanstead Flats. July was a classic summer month for weather

Typical April days of sunshine and showers were in short supply. There were some stunning sunsets, including this one on the 30th

Satellite images

Ophelia

Both the 2013 storm, left, and the 1987 storm followed a similar track as shown on these satellite pictures

On 25th a perfect curl could be seen on a depression centred off the west coast of Irleland. The rain associated with this low pressure brought the month’s highest daily rainfall total: 23.4mm (the system bringing 27.5mm) – a thoroughly miserable Bank Holiday Monday where it rained ALL day, from 6am until 9.30pm. It was yet another example of how much even frontal rainfall can vary over a small area.

This satellite picture taken on December 27th, 2014, shows the LP clearing through to leave us in clear, deep cold air